After watching the forum and doing some research in the last year, I have finally gathered the courage to start a Soleil Royal model. I have always been fascinated of ships, their history and the way they worked, so it is a great privilege to be able to give shape to such a marvel of engineering at its time.

This is the fist model I ever started in my life, and I know for a fact that it will be first of many.

I would appreciate any advice you have for me, and I hope you don't mind that I will be asking a lot of questions.

I have attached here some pictures of the built so far:

I would really appreciate if you could recommend a type of varnish that I could buy for the model. I am using some kind of varnish that is white when applied, but it goes transparent once it dries, which is fine. The only problem is that I need to apply about 4 coats in order to achieve a good result. Was that the case of all of you? or you might obtain a nice finish from applying 1 2 coats only?

Also is there any way I could find the set of paints needed for this model? Or could you recommend me the shades some of you that have built this model, used?

As this is the first model I built, and I lack the experience, I won't go into being very creative, but I would rather stick to the instructions.

Thank you very much guys, I can't wait for your thoughts on this, and your recommendations.

Looks great. I to wonder about varnish. Was thinking Varathan since it is water based. Also I am thinking acrylics for paint but Tamiya gold paint for the oranament. Would like to see what others suggest

Looks like you're off to a very nice start Oliver. I would certainly recommend you set the keel into a build jig to ensure you keep everything nice and straight. It's very easy to induce a twist into the hull when you start planking and that will cause problems later in the build....

Thank you very much for all the replies and support, they definitely help a lot. I have ordered a build jig to help me with keeping the hull straight, although I wished I have documented myself better before I started the build.

I have moved forward and started the planking. For somebody who's never done it before, I can say that I find it quite difficult, and as you can see from the pictures I have made certain mistakes which I am now trying to correct. I bent the planks quite a lot at the bow of the ship, and I'm out of space to lay the other planks now.

As you see the last plank on the port side is my attempt of trying to correct the mistake, and I'm planning to go like this until I should have finished the bow space to the upper planks. I hope this makes sense.

Another mistake I have made is on the bow's upper deck, where I have cut the deck where the hull joins the raw plank. I will try to think of a way to correct that, as It is a very important part of the ship which will be very visible even when finished.

I am now watching both the videos and the pdf diary before going ahead with a stage now, in order to avoid making mistakes like this.

I believe planking requires a lot of practice before getting it right.

If you spot any more mistakes I will definitely appreciate your feedback.

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